Navigation

News Updates

Public Hearings Scheduled for GDC

The City Council has scheduled public hearings to review the current draft of the Garland Development Code (GDC) and the proposed Zoning Map. The first public hearing will be held on Thursday, Sept. 11. Additional hearings, if needed, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 18 and Thursday, Sept. 25. All three hearings will begin at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Theatre, 521 West State St. Notices were mailed in August to all Garland property owners informing them of the public hearing process. If further hearings are necessary, dates, times and locations will be posted on the GDC website at GarlandDevCode.org.

The City is creating the GDC to consolidate the land development regulations into a cohesive and well-organized document that will help the City respond to changing demographic, market and development trends, while providing more flexible and user friendly regulations and processes.

Community and stakeholder meetings to review the initial GDC draft were held in December 2013 and January 2014. The feedback from these meetings reaffirmed the desire by the community to ensure the regulations achieve attractive, quality development, which enhances the quality of life for residents and businesses.

A series of joint work sessions were held by the Plan Commission and City Council in February through April of this year. The joint work sessions allowed Plan Commission and City Council to discuss the details of the GDC draft, to review the feedback from the community and stakeholder meetings, and to provide direction to staff regarding necessary revisions. Staff met with Plan Commission and City Council again in May to gain further clarification into certain policy issues that were raised during the previous joint work sessions.

Staff has revised the draft GDC based on direction provided during the joint work sessions, as well as the feedback received from the community and other stakeholders in the development process. This second draft was presented to the Plan Commission and City Council on July 31 in preparation for the September public hearings.

Check the GDC website (GarlandDevCode.org) for information regarding the next steps and future meeting dates. The GDC website also provides links to the draft documents, proposed Zoning Map, recent presentations and related summary materials. A dedicated GDC email address, GDC@garlandtx.gov, has been created to facilitate the exchange of information.